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Trump Holds Talks With Merkel As Police Clash With Protesters Ahead Of G20 Summit

RFE/RL July 06, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump has held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the city of Hamburg, a day before the start of the Group of 20 summit.

Trump's visit came as police and protestors clashed at a march against the G20 summit in the northern German port city, with police using water cannons and tear gas to clear around 1,000 masked anticapitalist demonstrators.

Police said organizers canceled the march following the violence, but many demonstrators remained on the streets. At least one person was seriously hurt and others were treated for minor injuries.

The demonstration, which organizers have labeled G20: Welcome To Hell, is expected to attract up to 100,000 protesters over the two-day event.

During a one-hour meeting, Trump and Merkel discussed the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine and the standoff with North Korea, a German government statement said on July 6.

The statement said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel also participated.

Earlier, the two leaders shook hands and spoke briefly in front of reporters before leaving for the closed-door talks.

So far, the two have had what were perceived as awkward moments during talks in Washington and during Trump's first trip to Europe in May.

Merkel has spoken in recent days about "obvious" disagreements with Washington and her ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) recently dropped the term "friend" to describe Germany's relationship with the United States.

Later, Trump attended a Northeast Asia Security dinner with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

North Korea's intercontinental ballistic-missile test earlier this week was expected to be high on the agenda.

Trump is expected to face tough questions at the G20 gathering from European leaders over his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.

He also faces skepticism about his perceived lack of support for NATO and the European Union, and his commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty against the backdrop of his desire to improve relations with Russia and his praise for Putin personally.

Tough talks on free-trade issues and immigration were also expected.

Some 20,000 police have been deployed in Hamburg to provide security during the G20 summit.

With reporting by AP and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/trump-merkel-g20- summit-protesters-clashes/28600208.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.